Oh my stars. I have never been so tempted to crowd a post with smilies and bouncing Cheshire kitties!
A couple of weeks ago, I saw HBO's TV ad for the new mini series called "
John Adams ," and I was literally bouncing in my seat. That was the first I'd heard of the thing, and I couldn't believe someone was making a series about John Adams! He's just normally so... overlooked. And yet his story is one of the most interesting, not least because of his wife Abigail, who became his advisor.
The series is based on the book
John Adams by David McCullough (I haven't read it). Paul Giamatti is John Adams, Laura Linney is Abigail. John Adams was a prickly man with a brilliant mind... I think casting Giamatti was a grand idea!
The first two installments are even better than I hoped. They've really brought the the 1775 colonies to life in all its great, gritty, gruesome glory. Powdered wigs are askew; people are dirty and sweaty and human and fallible. Adams is instrumental in convincing the colonies to vote for independence. But unlike us, he doesn't know how it will all turn out, only that his efforts will bring bloodshed before they bring anything else.
It should be really interesting when they get into the later story. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson worked really closely together. However, at the end of Adams' first term as president, Jefferson ran against him and hired a character assassin to slander Adams (who knows if they're going to put that in the series, though). When Adams found out later on, he was devastated. Didn't talk to Jefferson for a decade. But then he decided that they needed to resolve their differences, which resulted in an understanding between them, as well as one of the greatest series of letters in US history in which the two explain themselves to each other.
Dunno if this will be in there, but another potentially interesting thing was Abigail convincing John that he should argue for voting rights for women.
...Anyway... I know not everyone has HBO (I normally wouldn't), but I'm excited about this! (Hehe... Does this make me a fangirl for John Adams???
)
Episode guide, pictures, and reviews:
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/tvshow/john_adams/ 
